Episode 30.5

They got in two normal rooms before challenging the boss room. No Grace Gear, but a short sword with high offensive power and extreme sharpness got dropped.

On floor 87 they took on two normal rooms before taking a meal break and then another two before going in the boss room. A dagger with <Curse Resist (Large)>, and <Poison Resist (Large)> got dropped. Arios wanted the dagger so it became his.

On the 26th the day after, they took on two normal rooms, had a meal and then one other normal room before conquering the boss room. On floor 89, they went for the boss room after beating three normal rooms.

They got a <Speed Boost (Large)> and <Power Boost (Small)> long sword that day. The rest was all potions which got passed over to Arios.

As they sat on the ground after beating the boss, Arios talked to Lecan.

"Let's piece together all the information we have gotten so far."

"Hou."

"First of all, this Dungeon is a Unique Type dungeon where only Unique type White Spectres spawn. There are two Unique types, the so-called <Red Body> and <Black Body>."

"Yeah."

"<Red Body> attacks by casting magic, but they can also carry swords or spears with them, attacking them with your own sword on upper floors will make them retaliate with their weapons. However, they stop retaliating with weapons on <Middle Layer> down, so you can no longer employ the tactic of luring them in close quarter combat to seal their magic."

"Right it was."

"This indicates that the ways these White Spectres fight can change depending on floors."

"Really."

"Oh and their body get dyed pale red when they're casting magic. This is probably the origin of <Red Body> name."

"Who cares."

"<Red Body> shoots out magic after growling once. If even one <Red Body> managed to growl and shot out magic, the rest of <Red Body> can immediately shoot their magic as well. The individual that growled will always be the one that initiates the first strike, which is handy for predicting their attack pattern."

"Right."

"The heat ray-like offensive magic can have different colors, from bluish white, pale red, to yellow, but each color does not have any specific trait. However, the bluish white one boasts high firepower in comparison to the other colors."

"Yea, that's right."

"The growls start faster and finish faster the deeper you go down, by floor 80s, they will start growling the instance you get in a room."

"What about it."

"These growls change with floors, becoming tougher as we go on."

"Yeah well I can tell that much."

"Which means they might not even need to growl eventually."

"What."

"Lecan-dono."

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

"What?"

"We cannot peek inside a room where magic beasts lurk. However, Lecan-dono can detect locations of hostiles."

"Yea."

"But what about the magic beasts side then."

"What'd you say?"

"Those magic beasts might also possess some ways to detect enemies entering the room themselves."

"Something like that. Wait."

Lecan never even considered that. However, he cannot say that the possibility is completely nil.

"They may start growling before we get in and immediately shoot magic the moment we're inside. Or perhaps they may not even growl and just shoot right off the bat."

"Fumu."

"Next up, there is no rhyme or reason to the ratio of <Black Body> and <Red Body> numbers on upper floors. On floor 10s, there can be two <Black Body> or two <Red Body> in a room. However, this ratio stabilizes the further you go down. By floor 80s, it's always five <Black Body> to four <Red Body>."

"Yeah. The black ones ahead, red in the back."

"That's it."

"Hm?"

"Their formation is all over the place on upper floors. But on deeper floors, <Black Body> take the lead while <Red Body> stay in the back, a sensible formation to adopt. This may back the hypothesis of magic beasts being capable of detecting intruders."

Lecan didn't respond back. He couldn't.

However, it is indeed true that the enemy is getting better at positioning.

"Next up, <Black Body> specializes in physical brute force. Their black rind is abnormally sturdy it's pretty much an armor. And this armor gets tougher the further below you go, less and less parts are exposed as well. But their neck being their weak point does not change, thus you can defeat them with sufficient techniques."

Lecan isn't as technically advanced as Arios. However, <Puncture> skill affords him accuracy on the same level as Arios's.

"And next, both <Black Body> and <Red Body> get bigger with every deeper floor. Giant Variants on the first floor were about Lecan-dono's size, but now most of them are a head taller than you. Normal variants are about a size smaller, but their basic attributes such as agility and the likes are fixed depending on the floor they're on."

"Yea. Moreover, their individual and group movements feel identical when they're on the same floor."

"Which translates to getting used to dealing with normal variants on a particular floor will put us in an advantage when we're going up against that floor's giant variants."

That was how it was like with the majority of dungeons in his previous world, thus Lecan himself didn't find the concept novel.

"Lastly, the relation between room size and the numbers of magic beasts."

"Hm? I think that's obvious."

"It is made to be obvious. And that's why I found it suspicious."

"What?"

"The room size is mostly unvaried from floor 1 to 89. No, perhaps the shapes differ a bit, but its size is virtually identical."

Lecan nodded.

"How many magic beasts there are in a room gets added by one with every ten floors. This is completely systematic. At the rate this is going, we will face 10 beasts on floor 90s and 13 beasts on floor 120s. Beasts that are slightly bigger than the ones here."

Lecan also nodded this time.

"Don't you think that's weird? 13 adventurers and 13 magic beasts in such confined space, how are you even supposed to fight. And yet this dungeon gets conquered once every year."

"What can you do, that's just how it is."

"We should go make sure whether that it is or not."

"Mwu."

"Either we pay for information at the help desk, or go ask depth-walking adventurers for intel."

"Fumu."

He is right.

A slight mistake may mean life or death in the battle from here on out. If they can buy this kind of information then they should.

Of course, room size, magic beast number and stature as well as their tendency can be detected with <3D Perceptions>. However, Lecan has no way to tell what kind of ability they've got.

That was when he realized.

(Arios, this guy.)

(He caught on my ability.)

"Alright then. We'll go buy some intel at the information desk tomorrow morning."

Lecan and Arios went down to floor 90 and got the <Mark> before leaving the dungeon.